You name it! The race is on to name the new EU Research and Innovation Programme

Researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators, students and other creative individuals have until 10 May to suggest a relevant, appealing and catchy name for the new EU research and innovation programme which will be introduced post-2013. The competition launched by the European Commission today is linked to the ongoing stakeholder consultation on the Commission's Green Paper on the new programme (see IP/11/138), MEMO/11/76) which will be at the core of the Innovation Union initiative (IP/10/1288, MEMO/10/473) and of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Commission is proposing a smarter way to support researchers and innovators in Europe – so as to further boost excellence and to help ensure that good ideas reach the market and generate sustainable economic growth and new jobs. The new programme will be based around a "Common Strategic Framework" with different types of funding brought together in a coherent and flexible manner. This will make it possible to better align research funding to addressing global challenges and to making a central contribution to the EU's overall Europe 2020 strategy. Needless red tape will be cut out and participation made simpler. So the Commission is looking for a new name and enlisting the help of distinguished judges to draw up a shortlist of possibilities from the suggestions received. Those will then be put to an online vote.

European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, said: "The Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development have served Europe well and are still creating growth and jobs and improving quality of life. But our new programme for research and innovation will be a new departure and a new adventure, so we need a new name. We need to connect with stakeholders and the public and to raise the political and media profile of our work, which in turn can boost participation and improve results. We want to give the new programme a clear identity reflecting what it actually does and that it won't be 'just another Framework Programme'. So I am inviting people to be creative and name it!"

The Commission's February Green Paper proposes a Common Strategic Framework for research and innovation that breaks with the past and takes a fresh approach towards meeting the challenges we face in Europe over the next decade and beyond. This new approach calls for a new "identity" and so a competition is being launched to find a name, which can be easily associated with research and innovation, while also being original, memorable, easy to pronounce and spell and either useable in a wide range of languages or easily translatable.

Anna Innamorati, President of McCann Company (Rome office), expert in branding/communication

Massimo Busuoli, Head of the Brussels Office of ENEA (Italian national agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development)

The winning name will be announced by Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn at the conference concluding the current consultation on the Common Strategic Framework, on 10 June in Brussels.

The winner will get an expenses paid trip to the European Innovation Convention, which will take place in Brussels at the end of this year, and he or she will meet the Commissioner and other leading political, scientific and business figures.

Background

The new funding system for research and innovation will build upon the successes of the current Framework Programme for Research (FP7), the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The ultimate aim is to maximise the contribution of EU funded research and innovation to sustainable growth and jobs and to tackling the grand challenges facing Europe – for example climate change, energy and food security, health and our ageing population.

This will be achieved by creating a coherent set of instruments, along the whole "innovation chain" starting from basic research, culminating in bringing innovative products and services to market; and also to support non-technological innovation, for example in design and marketing.

The Commission's Green Paper also provides the basis for far-reaching simplification of procedures and rules. Stakeholders have until 20 May 2011 to respond to the main consultation.